FGCU Softball: LMU Tounament Preview

Continuing spring break on the west coast, The FGCU softball team prepares for another road tournament as they participate at Smith Field in the Loyola Marymount Tournament in Los Angeles, hosted by Loyola Marymount. Joining FGCU in the tournament, aside from host LMU (9-10-1), will include Southern Utah (2-16), Providence (3-11) and Harvard (3-6).

Last Time Out:

The Eagles began their four-day road trip in California with a doubleheader against the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB). The Eagles swept the Gauchos 2-0 and 3-2.

Freshman Marissa Mesiemore leads the team with a 7-1 overall record while holding a 1.46 ERA.

Meanwhile, fellow freshman Taylor Bauman notched her 10th save of the year. Bauman set the record for most saves in a career, passing Dana Frantz.

At the plate, the Eagles are led by junior Racquel Fournet. Founet is batting .352 with 19 hits including three doubles and one homer with 10 RBI.

Right ahead of Fournet is fellow junior Brooke Clemens with a team-high 11 RBI. Clemens is batting .208 for the team since transferring from Florida.

Scouting LMU:

The Lions recently competed in a doubleheader against Boston University. The Lions swept the series winning 4-2 and 4-3. The tie that the LMU has on their record was from the Cal State Fullerton Titan Classic where they tied 0-0 with Pittsburgh. The game ended due to travel curfew.

Senior Irma Sanchez leads the squad at the plate batting .340, totaling six RBIs which is a four-way tie for first on the team.

Junior Hannah Bandimere is 5-3 in the circle with a 1.99 ERA in 56.1 innings worked and has fanned 37 opposing batters.

Scouting Providence:

The Friars recently competed in the Louisville Slugger Tournament, hosted by Pacific University. The Friars would lose to San Jose State (2-4) and host Pacific (5-11) before falling in a doubleheader against Cal State Northridge (0-10 gm 1, 0-5 gm 2).

At the plate in 31 at-bats, junior Vanessa Portillo is at the top of the BA list hitting .323 and is in a two-way tie for first with five RBI.

In the circle, the team ERA is at 3.68 as junior Megan McCune is 1-1 in four appearances with a 2.52 ERA.

Scouting Southern Utah:

The Thunderbirds recently competed and hosted the St. George Red Desert Classic. They fell to Seattle (6-12), Nevada (1-12, 3-16), Boise State (1-10) and Utah Valley (6-9), but did get a win against Seattle in a rematch (6-5).

Senior Sarah Murphy is batting .533, despite having only six games under her belt.

The starting pitching rotation is made up of five pitchers as freshman Kalei Watkins leads the team in innings worked at 28.1 with a 1-2 record.

Scouting Harvard:

The Crimson recently competed in the UNC Invitational. They would fall 1-5 to Elon and beat 

host UNC 4-3 before falling 3-4 to Kansas and 1-6 against UNC in a rematch.

The team is batting .237 as three players have an exact BA of .333. Freshman Morgan Melito has tallied four doubles for the Crimson.

In the circle, the staff holds a combined 4.43 ERA with junior Kathleen Duncan seeing the most work in 38.2 frames, posting a 3-4 record and 2.53 ERA.

Series History:

This will be the first time that the Eagles will play LMU and Southern Utah, but it will not be the first time they play Providence or Harvard.

The Eagles are currently 3-1 against the Friars and 1-0 against the Crimson. Last time the Eagles and the Friars played each other was in the UCF Spring Fling Tournament in 2017. The Eagles won 10-7 and 3-0 or the first two games of the tournament before falling 2-5 in the third game. This was the Friars lone win against FGCU so far.

The series between FGCU and Harvard began in 2014 where the Eagles won 1-0.

The Eagles will play LMU on March 8 at 4:30 P.M. and Providence at 7 P.M., Providence again at 11 A.M and Southern Utah at 1:30 P.M. on March 9 before wrapping up with Harvard at 4 P.M. on March 10.